HOME | DD

Description
                                                      Chapter 1
     As I sit in the tree the wind whispers its song to me. It ruffles my fur, stroking me, enveloping me. The wind is like my silent lover. I feel it slip in between the feathers on my grey wings. It brings with it the gentle smell of lavender.
    The trees stretch before me as far as the eye can see. Fall has dressed them in its colours. The sky above them is pink with the rising sun, purple clouds lazily drifting by.
    I sigh in contentment. This moment was all I wanted. But then I remembered where I really was. The beautiful landscape dissolved around me and became the cold and brutal reality. As far as the eye could see was metal and cold greyish-yellow sky. On my back I felt the usual weight of my metal wings. I stood atop a huge skyscraper of metal, it echoing beneath my feet as I moved. i spread my arms wide and plummeted of the edge of the sheer building.
  I lay on my back as I fell, wings and arms still outstretched. By tucking in my wings and arms in I flipped onto my belly, snapping out my wings at the last moment, yet still feeling no thrill, no rush of adrenaline. I soared over the empty-looking city, feeling a sliver of joy at the wind tugging my fur, but it was a different wind, empty and cold like the city. There was no joy here.
  As I land outside of the warehouse we call home my feet make a slight thud in my solid boots. I knock three times in rapid succession then twice more, slowly this time. When nobody answers I give an exasperated growl and yell, "FARDEL!! Get down here! The door is locked from the outside again!"
  The bent piece of metal we called a door creaked open and a lizard man opened the door with a swish of his clawed hand. "Ah Ms. High-And-Mighty-Mountain-Lion I welcome you home one again," he said sarcastically.
"Oh shut up Fardel," I say with a hint of a joke in my voice. Fardel was one of the last of us left with a good sense of humor. I walk inside and he closes the door behind me, lightly so as not to create an echo through the vast space. The slightly domed roof towered over two stories above us. Boxes were stacked in rows; some had been moved to create "rooms" for our bedraggled party of mutants. My room was in the back corner, farthest from the door, so if there was a disaster I could make sure we all got out.
  As I walk down the aisle to my "room" a few mutants poked out their heads to say hello. I nod and say the occasional hello back. I hesitate at the start of a separate tunnel, thinking maybe I should visit him but decide against it. I finally find myself at the back of the warehouse. I turn down a corridor and into my "room." For privacy I place a huge plank of fake wood in front of the opening to my room. There was no real wood left here.
  Walking over to the long mirror propped in the corner I look at my clunky clothes. I would rather be wearing my wind robe from home but that would never be. Not now; now I needed to blend in.
  Slowly I unbuckle all the useless straps and buckles on my skin-tight, full body suit. I carefully peel it off like a wetsuit until I stand in my underclothes. I run my hands down my sides, admiring myself. Really, I was quite something. Standing at six feet two inches tall I towered above most humans, even some mutants. I had the body of a human, but the features of a cougar, now an extinct creature. My pelt was beige with darker brown speckles down my back, and my snout and ears were black. A long and deadly tail swished behind me, strong enough to inflict much pain on tender skinned humans. My eyes were a bright green like fresh grass. Only I know what grass is any more. Ugly, metallic bird wings now replaced my old, natural ones. Flexing them I feel their power. They weren't heavy at all; they just didn't feel right. Instead of a right shoulder I had a mechanical shoulder to replace the one I had lost. It made that arm stronger but still, it didn't feel right.
  Bending over my suit I reach into a pocket a pull out a metal pole about the size of my forearm. Pressing a hidden switch it slides open, the end becoming a circle with spikes on the outer rim and a grey orb swirling with blue suspended in the center. The metal gleamed a deadly blue. Twirling it in my hand, I felt its familiar weight. When placed with the butt on the ground it stood about a head taller than me, making it a close range and slightly ranged weapon. Twisting the middle section it slid silently back in place. I slipped it under my pillow.
  Sighing, I flop onto my bed, feet swinging over the edge. I look around at all my books, piled high on make-shift shelves made of open boxes turned on their sides. I hadn't been able to read in a long time because I'd been so busy.
  Curling up on my side I slip into the folds of exhausted sleep. I didn't dream; I was too tired for that.

Description
                                                      Chapter 1
     As I sit in the tree the wind whispers its song to me. It ruffles my fur, stroking me, enveloping me. The wind is like my silent lover. I feel it slip in between the feathers on my grey wings. It brings with it the gentle smell of lavender.
    The trees stretch before me as far as the eye can see. Fall has dressed them in its colours. The sky above them is pink with the rising sun, purple clouds lazily drifting by.
    I sigh in contentment. This moment was all I wanted. But then I remembered where I really was. The beautiful landscape dissolved around me and became the cold and brutal reality. As far as the eye could see was metal and cold greyish-yellow sky. On my back I felt the usual weight of my metal wings. I stood atop a huge skyscraper of metal, it echoing beneath my feet as I moved. i spread my arms wide and plummeted of the edge of the sheer building.
  I lay on my back as I fell, wings and arms still outstretched. By tucking in my wings and arms in I flipped onto my belly, snapping out my wings at the last moment, yet still feeling no thrill, no rush of adrenaline. I soared over the empty-looking city, feeling a sliver of joy at the wind tugging my fur, but it was a different wind, empty and cold like the city. There was no joy here.
  As I land outside of the warehouse we call home my feet make a slight thud in my solid boots. I knock three times in rapid succession then twice more, slowly this time. When nobody answers I give an exasperated growl and yell, "FARDEL!! Get down here! The door is locked from the outside again!"
  The bent piece of metal we called a door creaked open and a lizard man opened the door with a swish of his clawed hand. "Ah Ms. High-And-Mighty-Mountain-Lion I welcome you home one again," he said sarcastically.
"Oh shut up Fardel," I say with a hint of a joke in my voice. Fardel was one of the last of us left with a good sense of humor. I walk inside and he closes the door behind me, lightly so as not to create an echo through the vast space. The slightly domed roof towered over two stories above us. Boxes were stacked in rows; some had been moved to create "rooms" for our bedraggled party of mutants. My room was in the back corner, farthest from the door, so if there was a disaster I could make sure we all got out.
  As I walk down the aisle to my "room" a few mutants poked out their heads to say hello. I nod and say the occasional hello back. I hesitate at the start of a separate tunnel, thinking maybe I should visit him but decide against it. I finally find myself at the back of the warehouse. I turn down a corridor and into my "room." For privacy I place a huge plank of fake wood in front of the opening to my room. There was no real wood left here.
  Walking over to the long mirror propped in the corner I look at my clunky clothes. I would rather be wearing my wind robe from home but that would never be. Not now; now I needed to blend in.
  Slowly I unbuckle all the useless straps and buckles on my skin-tight, full body suit. I carefully peel it off like a wetsuit until I stand in my underclothes. I run my hands down my sides, admiring myself. Really, I was quite something. Standing at six feet two inches tall I towered above most humans, even some mutants. I had the body of a human, but the features of a cougar, now an extinct creature. My pelt was beige with darker brown speckles down my back, and my snout and ears were black. A long and deadly tail swished behind me, strong enough to inflict much pain on tender skinned humans. My eyes were a bright green like fresh grass. Only I know what grass is any more. Ugly, metallic bird wings now replaced my old, natural ones. Flexing them I feel their power. They weren't heavy at all; they just didn't feel right. Instead of a right shoulder I had a mechanical shoulder to replace the one I had lost. It made that arm stronger but still, it didn't feel right.
  Bending over my suit I reach into a pocket a pull out a metal pole about the size of my forearm. Pressing a hidden switch it slides open, the end becoming a circle with spikes on the outer rim and a grey orb swirling with blue suspended in the center. The metal gleamed a deadly blue. Twirling it in my hand, I felt its familiar weight. When placed with the butt on the ground it stood about a head taller than me, making it a close range and slightly ranged weapon. Twisting the middle section it slid silently back in place. I slipped it under my pillow.
  Sighing, I flop onto my bed, feet swinging over the edge. I look around at all my books, piled high on make-shift shelves made of open boxes turned on their sides. I hadn't been able to read in a long time because I'd been so busy.
  Curling up on my side I slip into the folds of exhausted sleep. I didn't dream; I was too tired for that.